1758, and in his eighth year was placed Descended from a long line of literary and professional ancestry, it was early determined to place him in the law, and, having passed the usual period of probation in the office of an eminent solicitor, he commenced practice in 1783; and in the same year, as if to show that he had not neglected the opportunities which his clerkship had afforded of qualifying himself for his legal pursuits, he gave to the world the first professional produce of his pen, the " Digest of the Doctrine of Bail.” Four years afterwards he produced a work of much greater importance, whether considered in reference to the labour bestowed upon it by the author, or to its value to the profession generally, viz." The History of Mortmain and Charitable Uses," which appeared in 1787. Its publication drew forth much commendation and encomium from those best able to judge of its execution, and one learned correspondent speaks of it as "his little book, but great work." At about this period, or a few years before, he formed an acquaintance with that great philanthropist Granville Sharp, which, notwithstanding their difference of age, speedily ripened into a most intimate friendship that ceased only with his life. Fully according with his opinions on the slave trade, and cordially admiring and seconding his enlarged views on the the then absorbing subject of "Slavery" itself, he became a warm and zealous co-operator, both personally and with his pen, in the great object of Mr. Sharp's life,and a sincere and fervent participator in the satisfaction afforded to all good men by its accomplishment. In 1791 he published his "Reflections on the Law of Libel," some time before the debate on that subject, in which Mr. Fox took so prominent a part; soon after which, an eminent member of Trinity College, Cambridge, wrote to him thus,-"I value them (the Reflections) the more that they preceded the famous speech of Mr. Fox on that subject. Even to have erred with him would, in my judgment, have had a certain degree of merit; but to have been right with that great man, and to have gone before him upon the Law of Libel, is more meritorious than I have words to express.' 25 Oct. 1791. In 1793 he published the "Addenda to the Law of Charitable Uses ;" and in 1796 the "Practical Arrangement of the Laws of Excise," 2 vols. 8vo. threatened invasion of this country by In 1804 the world rang with the the Usurper of France, and England's gallant sons were in a moment united, as it had been one man, to hurl defiance at his threats, to spurn the despot from flushed with the conquest of half the our shores, and to teach him that, though world, there remained one little spot sacred to liberty, and guarded by her genius, that should never be polluted by his footstep. resting period, the steady and ardent At this peculiarly inte triotism of the subject of this memoir loyalty, and the warm and glowing pawould not permit him to be an unmoved spectator of what was passing around him, and he with avidity enrolled himself a member of the most ancient and this kingdom, the Honourable Artillery most distinguished volunteer corps in Company. Here he found himself surrounded by many who appreciated his talents, and were acquainted with his habits of research; and it was at once that they had now in their body a memsuggested to the Court of Assistants, ber eminently qualified to supply a great desideratum in so valuable and important an establishment to collect their scattered annals, and to become their historian. somely made as it was cheerfully acThe proposal was as handcepted; and in the same year came forth his "History of the Honourable Artillery Company," dedicated to H. R. H. ty), as Captain General of the corps, the Prince of Wales (his present Majeswho returned his acknowledgments for the dedication, and for the work itself, in the most gracious and flattering terms. the Law of Idiotcy and Lunacy," a of some Objections to a Bill to prevent nothing had recurred to supply the place occasion he had the somewhat rare honour of receiving from that respected Judge an autograph letter of acknowledgment, in which he was pleased to pronounce it "that very useful and welldigested work.” In 1810 appeared "Observations on a Bill for Registering Charitable Donations;" and, in the same year, "A Letter to Mr. Wilberforce, on the Second Bill for Registering Charitable Donations." In 1810, also, he published "Pietas Londinensis," a History of the Public Charities that adorn this great Metropolis and its vicinity. In 1820 he published "The Attorney and Solicitor's New Pocket Book of Precedents in Conveyancing," in 2 vols.; and in 1821, "The Arrangement of Executors' Accounts." It has already been remarked, that in 1810 Mr. Highmore had published a History of Public Charities; and it is perhaps almost superfluous to observe, that from his first entrance into life he had intimately connected himself with many of those valuable institutions, and in the full and beneficent spirit of " Humanum, nihil a me alienum puto," he felt the deepest interest in them all; therefore, carefully watching this subject, he did not fail to notice, that, among the other innumerable blessings the return of peace had brought to our country, it was pre-eminently accom panied by "good will towards men," and that a very large portion of public attention had been directed to the sufferings of our fellow-creatures, and to the erection of establishments for their cure or relief. He therefore collected the history of those institutions which had been called into existence since 1810, and finding that their description would require a volume equal in interest, and almost in size, to its predecessor, he published in 1822 his "Philanthropia Metropolitana." To the Gentleman's Magazine Mr. Highmore was almost a monthly contributor; as his numerous and valuable communications on various subjects under the signature of A. H. abundantly testify. Mr. Highmore traced his ancestry through several centuries on the paternal side, wherein the church, the army, the medical profession, and the private gentleman, embrace the whole list of his progenitors, up to several in the 15th century, who possessed and resided upon a large estate at Harbybrow in Cumberland, consisting of seven ma- Although Mr. Highmore had for a period of forty years been actively and assiduously engaged in his profession, he had ever found opportunities, by a most enviable habit of never leaving a single moment of the day without its appropriate occupations, to devote great attention to literary pursuits. Dear as those pursuits were to his refined and cultivated mind, he did not permit them to interfere with those portions of the day in which he was called upon to attend to his professional duties, which were ever performed with a peculiarly disinterested conscientiousness, and guided by the most strict and undeviating integrity. Neither did he allow them to trespass upon those duties of a still higher and more important order - his duties towards his neighbour, which he ever fulfilled with uninterrupted, unceasing, and unmixed benevolence—his duties towards his God, which he ever performed with the strictest regularity, and with the most humble, the most pure, the most genuine, and most unaffected piety.. Such qualities and such pursuits had eminently prepared him for that retirement which he had enjoyed during the last few years of his life at Dulwich, where his extreme urbanity of manners, his peculiar sweetness of temper and disposition, his remarkable singleness of heart, and simplicity of character, his great stores of information, his refined and correct taste, his sound and wellregulated judgment, combined with a more than usually easy command of language and flow of conversation, made him the revered and beloved nucleus of his own domestic circle. But during the last two years of his life, he was destined to appear in a still holier, purer, more dignified character, and to show that under loss of health, accompanied by bodily sufferings, which Nature could hardly endure, and under one of the heaviest bereavements to which a parent can be subjected, he could bow with patient resignation to that Almighty will which gave and which has taken away. Soon after the affliction alluded to, he was stretched on the bed of sickness for nearly twelve months, suffering during that whole period constant and excruciating pain, and during part of it experiencing little short of agony. It was here that his mental vigour, his animated and brilliant conversation, his cheerful and social disposition shone forth with redoubled charms from the contrast they afforded to the intervals of pain and suffering by which they were checquered, but not destroyed. It was here that his retrospect of life came to him as a happy dream, unruffled by the recollection of a single misspent day, or a single wasted hour. It was here that his long course of useful charity and active benevolence gave him the sweetest and most consoling recollections. It was here that his exemplary resignation, and his truly religious fortitude, evinced the genuine, humble, though confident Christian. It was here that his daily service to his Maker, and his devotional submission to his dispensations, painful as they were, were expressed with a genuine, sustained, and fervent piety, a piety as far removed from the evarescent zeal of enthusiasm, as from the selfish coldness of apathy. It was here that his exhortations to a good and virtuous course, his comments on the truth and perfectness of our holy religion, his reliance on future salvation through a crucified Saviour, seemed as coming from one standing on the borders of eternity—almost as though one rose from the dead. It was here that, in his 71st year, life passed from him without murmur or effort, and seemed only to be exchanged for evident peace and hope!— Gentleman's Magazine. HORNER, John, Esq; in Walker Street, Edinburgh; Oct. 12. 1829. This venerable and highly respectable citizen was the acting partner in the well-known firm of Inglis, Horner, and Company, afterwards Horner, Baxter, and Company, and latterly John Horner and Company, manufacturers, in Edinburgh. He was father of Mr. Horner the celebrated barrister and member of Parliament, who was unfortunately cut off at an early period of his brief but brilliant parliamentary career. Mr. Horner's only remaining son is Mr. Leonard Horner, the originator of the School of Arts in Edinburgh, and who, from the great success in his gratuitous and patriotic services as secretary of that institution, together with his having taken an active part in the management of the New Edinburgh Academy, was at once fixed upon as eminently qualified to fill a similar situation that of Warden to the London University. The duties of that situation, however, had so seriously affected the health of Mr. Leonard Horner, that he was under the necessity of returning to Edinburgh for some months to breathe his native air, and had only gone back to London a few days before the death of his revered father. Gentleman's Magazine. -- HURN, the Rev. William, at Woodbridge, Oct. 9. 1829, in his 74th year. This venerable and highly respected divine was a native of Hockham, in Norfolk, and at an early period of life was for some time an assistant in the Free Grammar School at Dedham, in Essex, then under the superintendance of the Rev. Dr. Grimwood. On relinquishing this situation he entered the army, in which he served for some years, during the American war, as a Lieute. nant in the Western battalion of the Suffolk militia; but, being naturally of a serious and religious turn of mind, he quitted the military profession, and pursued his studies for the church, in which, after a short period of close and diligent application, he was ordained both Deacon and Priest by Dr. John Hinchcliffe, the then Bishop of Peterborough. In 1790 he was presented by Dame Anne Henniker, and the Duchess dowager of Chandos, to the vicarage of Debenham, in Suffolk, and at the same time was honoured with the appointment of one of her Grace's Domestic Chaplains. He now commenced his ministerial labours at Debenham; and in an "Introductory Discourse," which he preached there on the Sunday after his induction, thus speaks of himself and his appointment :- "The words just cited, Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine,' may be considered as an address to every Christian minister. I have chosen them with application to myself, and the situation in which I stand before you this day, as your minister, appointed such by the call and providence of God. In the view of this most arduous of all undertakings, I cannot but feel my own insufficiency; and who is sufficient for these things? Yet, relying on Him whose strength is made perfect in weakness, I trust to be found faithful, and through the divine help to speak those things to you, and those only, which become sound doctrine. I had rather open my mouth no more in a pulpit, than not to speak the truth as it is in Jesus. But another circumstance attends my appearance here at this time. I have just read in your hearing that form of words which comprises, in thirty-nine articles, the belief of the Church of England, and which every minister in the Establishment is obliged to subscribe before he can be authorised thereby to preach. To these articles I have set my hand three several times; and have now declared publicly before you, that I give my unfeigned assent and consent to them. It must follow, then, that I believe the articles themselves contain a form of sound words, or I should be unworthy of any confidence. Could I profess to believe them for the sake of temporal emolument, and to gain an easier subsistence in this frail precarious life, I should justly forfeit all claim, not only to your esteem, but even to your attention. I am free, therefore, to declare, that I regard them as a just and noble summary of Christian truth, and agreeing with the pure doctrine of God's revealed word." Mr. Hurn was a constant resident on his vicarage, and showed by his life and conversation how well qualified he was for the proper exercise of his professional duties, which he discharged, indeed, with a degree of zeal and activity equal to their high importance. In constantly catechising and instructing the children of the poor; in visiting the sick; in comforting the aged and afflicted; in relieving the indigent and distressed; in conducting his flock into those paths which are scripturally termed "the paths of peace ;" and in reproving the follies, vices, and vanities of the age, he clearly proved himself a most attentive and indefatigable minister of the gospel, zealous in the cause of his heavenly Master, and influenced by the genuine spirit of Christianity. In 1822, after a conscientious discharge of his ministerial duties for the long period of thirty-two years, Mr. Hurn came to the resolution of resigning his ecclesiastical preferment, and seceding from the Established Church; and, in consequence of that resolution, gave notice from the pulpit on the 6th of October, that on the Sunday following he would preach his farewell sermon. This notice excited the greatest surprise, as the most friendly understanding had ever existed between the worthy pastor and his flock. In giving this notice Mr. Hurn stated that it was a matter that he had long had on his mind; and that it was from serious and conscientious motives that he had so decided. On the day appointed the church of Debenham was crowded to excess with parishioners, and with strangers from Ipswich, Woodbridge, Framlingham, Eye, and the adjacent villages; the former most deeply affected at receiving a parting admonition from their beloved and faithful pastor, and the latter in expectation that he would assign his reasons for relinquishing his cure, and seceding from the Establishment. Two discourses, or rather a continuation of the same discourse, were delivered after the morning and evening services, with great feeling and effect, from the Acts, ch. xx. v. 32. “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." With respect to his reason for leaving them, he contented himself with observing, that the importance of the Gospel far outweighed every temporary consideration. He was thankful, that from the time he first came among them, he had always sent them to the Word of God. At his installation, or reading in as it was called, he had given his solemn consent and assent to every thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer; and, as that offence was committed publicly, he considered it his "My Brethren and Friends,-If any of you have come with the expectation of hearing any particular reasons for the extraordinary step I have taken, you will be disappointed. Let it suffice to observe, that my motives are of a conscientious nature; and that I have seen it to be my duty to take this step. This is not the time or place for further explanation. But I intend, if the Lord spare me, to give you information in that way, which every one is at liberty to adopt who is desirous to make known what he conceives will be for the benefit of others. But to set before you the faults of the Establishment whilst I am occupying one of its pulpits, has an indecorum to which I cannot reconcile my mind; and it would defeat the principal object which I have now in view. Should I attempt to feed this congregation with the husks and chaff of mere externals, or with detailing blemishes in any of the denominations of professing Christians, or with cherishing one bigoted or bitter thought this day, I should consider myself as inexcusable. No, my brethren, I have better things to set before you, and things which accompany salvation. And I bless God that, in taking leave of you, He has made me desirous above all things to be instrumental in promoting your spiritual welfare..... The minister who preaches on such an occasion as this, knowing how many important things must be omitted, will find a difficulty in selecting those which are most proper and needful. There is danger, also, lest his sensibility, being overmuch excited, should incapacitate him for the prudent and faithful delivery of his message. I am quite aware of the difficult and afflicting circumstances in which I stand; and that I must render an account to God of my conduct under them. To this day I have often looked with some trembling; with emotions not to be described (more particularly when I have considered the people), and which have sometimes risen so high, that it has been a question, whether my natural constitution could endure the process. If we are sufficient for the ordinary calls of the ministry, how shall I meet one so extraordinary and trying in so many poin's of view; and close the labours of so many years in a way pleasing to God, and most profitable to the souls of the people." Venerating, as the writer of this memoir does, the excellent Liturgy of the Church of England, whatever may be its blemishes-and what human composition is without them? —yet he cannot withhold his admiration of the disinterested conduct of Mr. Hurn, who, at his period of life, made such a sacrifice for conscience-sake. Every act of a man's life, if done conscientiously, is entitled to respect, be his religious or political creed what it may. Conscience is the faithful index of an honest heart; and he, who regulates himself by its decisions can never greatly err. Several hundred pounds, it is understood, were offered to be raised by the parishioners by means of a subscription, in order to erect a place of worship in Debenham, for Mr. Hurn, if he would consent to remain amongst them; but he at once declined the offer; and repaired to Woodbridge, where he hired a chapel, and expended a considerable sum in fitting it up for the reception of his followers. Here he continued in the faithful discharge of his ministerial labours till within a few weeks of his decease. His remains were removed to Debenham, attended by numbers of his friends and hearers, and interred in the north aisle of that church; on which occasion an appropriate exhortation was delivered by the Vicar, the Rev. Mr. Smalley, to a crowded and attentive congregation. Mr. Hurn was married, in early life, to Miss Wharrie, of Hull, who died in 1817, and by whom he had no issue. His reasons for seceding from the Established Church, which, previous to his decease, he had prepared for the press, will, it is understood, be shortly presented to the public. Mr. Hurn is known to the literary world by the following publications; viz. "Heath Hill; a Descriptive Poem," London, 1777, 4to.; "The Blessings of Peace," &c. 1784, 4to.; "The Fundamental Principles of the Established Church, proved to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures; an Introductory Discourse, preached March 7. at Debenham in Suffolk, after reading the Thirty-nine Articles," Bury, 1790, |